Manufacturing method of insole and insole manufactured by the method

ABSTRACT

A new manufacturing method produces an insole that fits a user&#39;s foot properly and that is manufactured in a shorter time at a lower cost. The manufacturing method includes steps of: acquiring information on a user&#39;s foot by a foot printer; selecting a basic part  2  based on the acquired information; attaching various modification parts  3  to the selected basic part  2  arranged in a trial shoe  1;  determining whether the trial insole including a combination of the basic part  2  and modification parts  3  is properly fitted to the user&#39;s foot in walking and standing statuses; repeating the steps from selecting to determining until the most fitting combination of the basic part and modification parts is determined; reproducing the determined trial insole in a three-dimensional CAD based on the most fitting combination; and manufacturing an insole by cutting out material based on the reproduced trial insole in the three-dimensional CAD.

This application claims the benefit of Japanese patent application No. 2013-137678, filed Jul. 1, 2013, which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF INVENTION

The present invention relates to an insole fitting to a user's foot properly and a manufacturing method of the insole in a short time at a low cost.

RELATED BACKGROUND ARTS

In these days, the importance of the insole has been realized more and more. The insole is used in various applications such as sports, treatments for injuries caused by sports, measures against hallux valgus, mitigations for lumbar pain, knee pain and the like. In order to use the insole in these applications, the insole itself should be fitted to user's foot properly. Further, in order to attain effects in the above-mentioned applications, functions and a shape of the insole should be selected and adjusted properly. And in order to maintain such effects, the insole should be made of materials having hardness more than a certain degree and toughness for keeping the shape of the insole without wearing out by intermittently adding loads. However, commercially available conventional insoles are neither always fitted to user's feet nor sufficient in their functions. Since easy type order to made insoles, such as insoles manufactured by applying soft pads to bases or by applying user's feet to heated sheets have not sufficient durability, they cannot bear long term uses. The above-mentioned problems arise remarkably, particularly when the insoles are required to support loads steadily or when the insoles are used by highly active users.

There is a manufacturing method of the insole based on a pattern of the insole determined by measuring sizes of various portions of user's foot. This method is called an order to made method or a full custom made method. Usually, the pattern is directly determined by putting a foot in a cast or indirectly determined by a reversed positive pattern acquired by casting gypsum in a mold formed by stamping a foot on an impression form called Tritschaum (a product name by Buerfeind A.G. in Germany). Further, a technique, characterized by that the insole are manufactured based on information of a shape of foot and the like acquired by a three-dimensional scanner, is disclosed.

Japanese laid open patent No. 2001-204512 discloses an automatically manufacturing method of shoe patterns, the method comprising steps of: determining a shape of user's foot and dimensions portions of the foot by a non-contact three dimensional shape measurement apparatus; analyzing the determined data by a computer, and converting the analyzed data into CAD data for a shoe pattern; converting the CAD data into NC data; manufacturing the shoe pattern automatically according to the determined shape and the dimensions.

Japanese laid open patent No. 2004-275611 discloses a manufacturing method of the insole, the method comprising steps of: measuring user's foot by a three dimensional scanner; modifying the measured data into NC machine compatible, and manufacturing the insole according to the modified data.

Since the above-mentioned fully made to order manufacturing methods require a lot of time and wasted materials, and use expensive machines, there are problems that manufacturing costs are increase in addition to requiring long time to manufacture such products.

Further, in these methods there is other problem such that users cannot confirm whether the manufactured insoles function properly, have no problems or have proper fitting feelings or not for the users at a time when the data are determined or converted. In some cases when the user's foot feels pains by wearing the insole, or does not fit to the insole, the insole has to be modified or reproduced, which lead to a cost increase and a delay of delivery time.

DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is devised in order to provide a manufacturing method of a full made to order insole, which fit user's foot more easily and is manufactured for a shorter time at a lower cost.

The above-mentioned problems are solved by the following method and the insole obtained by the method.

(1) A manufacturing method of an insole comprising steps of: acquiring information on a user's foot by a foot printer, wherein the information comprising a pressure pattern of a sole and contour of the foot; selecting a basic part among a group of basic parts based on the acquired information; attaching various modification parts to the selected basic part so as to form a trial insole; determining whether the trial insole comprising a combination of the basic part and modification parts is properly fitted to the user's foot or not in a walking and in a standing status; repeating steps from the selecting step to the determining step until the most fitting combination of the basic part and modification parts is determined; writing the determined most fitting combination in the foot print; reproducing the determined trial insole in a three dimensional CAD based on the most fitting combination; and manufacturing an insole by cutting out a material based on the reproduced trial insole in the three dimensional CAD. (2) The insole manufactured by the method described in (1)

Since it is not necessary to employ expensive devices such as a three dimensional scanner and the like for manufacturing the insole by the present invention, and since manufacturing time of the insole is reduced without wasting materials, the insole which properly fit to the user's foot can be supplied for a short time at a low cost.

In addition, since the user can judge functions of the insole in standing and walking statuses by wearing the insole at a time when user's foot is measured, the most effective and fitting shape can be determined, so that less modifications are required at a time when the insole is delivered to the user.

Further, since the insole by the present invention is manufactured based on CAD data and since a plurality of products having quite the same shape can be cut out from materials, later the insoles can be reproduced easily at a low cost.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a flowchart showing manufacturing steps of the insole by the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a plan view showing a trial insole comprising a basic part and modification parts, fitted in a trial fitting shoe or sandal.

FIG. 3 is a side view showing the insole in FIG. 2 fitted in the trial fitting shoe or sandal.

EMBODIMENTS OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention are explained as referring to drawings.

The manufacturing method of the insole by the present invention comprises a plurality of steps which are carried out in series. In step 1, information on a user's foot is acquired as a foot print by putting the foot on a foot printer. The information comprises a pressure pattern of a sole and a contour of the foot in a standing status acquired by the foot printer, and other information acquired by touching and observing the foot.

In step 2, based on the information acquired in step 1, a basic part 2 is selected among a group of basic parts with various patterns. The basic parts having different patterns are prepared beforehand. A basic part most fitting to the shape of the foot is selected among the group as the basic part 2. Data on the basic parts are registered in the three-dimensional CAD beforehand.

In step 3, a trial insole is formed by attaching modification parts 3, 4, 5 to the selected basic part 2 arranged in a trial fitting shoe (or sandal) 1 as shown in FIG. 2.

In step 4 the trial fitting shoe 1 is fitted to the foot so as to determine whether the trial insole is properly fitted to the foot or not in a walking status as well as in a standing status. If the trial insole is not fitted the foot properly, step 4 returns to step 3, and procedures from step 3 to step 4 are repeated until a most fitting insole is determined. Data on the all modification parts 3, 4, 5 are also registered in the three-dimensional CAD together with the data on the basic parts beforehand. In FIG. 2 three modification parts 3, 4, and 5 are illustrated, but the number of the modification parts is not limited to three, in some cases the number may be any number more than three.

In step 5, an arrangement and positions of the modification parts determined in step 4 are written in the foot print acquired in step 1. Sample ID numbers and the shapes of the basic parts 2 and modification parts 3 are registered in a computer beforehand, and the determined sample ID numbers and shapes are also written on the foot print stored in the three dimensional CAD. If other modifications are necessary, relevant information is also written in the foot print.

In step 6, data on the shape of the most fitting sole based on the foot print determined in step 5, is reproduced in the three dimensional CAD. Image information acquired by scanning the determined foot print and stored in the computer is inputted in CAD software and processed. A three dimensional insole is reproduced by the CAD software based on data of the most fitting basic part and modification parts as well as based on the inputted image information of the foot print, so that the three dimensional insole synthesized from the most fitting combination comprising the basic part and the modification parts, is reproduced.

In step 7, the three dimensional insole is manufactured by cutting out a material based on the data in the CAD acquired in step 6. In this step, an NC machine is operated via a CAM based on the data, so that the insole is cut out from a material having a most proper hardness. Thus, the most fitting insole to the user's foot is finished.

As described above, the insole fitting to the user's foot quite well is obtained. The above-mentioned steps can be executed in a remote place by transmitting the respective data via various communication means, so that the present invention can be carried out smoothly even in the remote place.

Materials for the insoles are selected according to applications of the insoles. For example, materials with high elasticity and high shock absorbability are usually selected for applications in sports; materials with high rigidity and less deformability are usually selected for measures against callosities, corns and hallux valgus; and soft materials are usually selected for preventing injuries caused by peripheral circulatory disturbance or the like and for mitigating pains in apophyseal parts.

Reference Numerals and Characters

-   1 Trial Shoe (or Sandal) -   2 Basic Part -   3, 4, 5 Modification Parts 

What is claimed is:
 1. A manufacturing method of an insole comprising steps of: acquiring information on a user's foot by a foot printer, wherein the information comprising a pressure pattern of a sole and contour of the foot; selecting a basic part among a group of basic parts based on the acquired information; attaching various modification parts to the selected basic part so as to form a trial insole; determining whether the trial insole comprising a combination of the basic part and modification parts is properly fitted to the user's foot or not in a walking and in a standing status; repeating steps from the selecting step to the determining step until the most fitting combination of the basic part and modification parts is determined; writing the determined most fitting combination in the foot print; reproducing the determined trial insole in a three dimensional CAD based on the most fitting combination; and manufacturing an insole by cutting out a material based on the reproduced trial insole in the three dimensional CAD.
 2. The insole manufactured by the method described in claim
 1. 